ALEXANDRIA, Va. ?" Speedway SuperAmerica LLC (SSA) announced that it is conducting a petition drive for customers to urge Congress to take action and address the problem of excessive credit card swipe fees. In addition to in-store petitions, consumers can also make their voices heard through fightswipefees.com.

"As part of the NACS Fight Swipe Fees petition drive, Speedway SuperAmerica is starting a company-wide campaign in April with a goal of collecting over one million signatures," said Tony Kenney, SSA president and a member of the NACS Board of Directors. "As part of our efforts in delivering an exceptional experience to our customers, we continuously focus on controlling our expenses in order to provide the best value for our products and services."

Consumers are clearly concerned about how credit and debit card swipe fees result in higher retail prices. "Help us put an end to unfair credit card swipe fees that are taking more from every dollar," urges signage that will be in SSA??s stores for the month of April.

Credit and debit card swipe fees ?" called "interchange fees" by the big banks ?" are a fixed amount plus a variable percentage of each transaction that Visa and MasterCard and their member banks set and collect from retailers every time a credit or debit card is used. These fees average about 2 percent in the United States, the highest rate in the industrialized world. These fees cost the average American household more than $400 per year.

Credit card swipe fees today are the second-highest business cost to convenience stores and are non-negotiable, inflating the prices consumers pay for everyday goods and services.

"Credit card fees are hidden to our customers and have increased at a double digit annual compound growth rate during the past decade. We expect that our petition campaign will carry more customer voices to Congress demanding that they address the problem of credit card swipe fees," said Kenney.

For more on credit card fees, see the NACS issue page.